Avon Hints and Tips (Part 3)

bexr

Hey everyone!

Well, it is with regret that after 2 campaigns I am resigning as an Avon Rep.:( *big sigh* I certainly don't want to resign, but unfortunately I feel I have no choice.

For those of you who don't know, it has come to light that there is another (lazy) local rep who is claiming to already 'have' my allocated roads. My ASM told her she could keep her customers. Well, her initial list of customers in one road of 40 homes was 5, and now that has suddenly risen to 16!!!!! I've spoken to 3 of her so-called customers in this road, and they say they haven't been canvassed in a very very long time (which is why they are now ordering from me).

Anyway, today I went to collect brochures that I dropped on Monday. To cut a long story short, I had to knock on one house to ask for my book and she told me that this other Rep had knocked on her door on Weds, told this customer that it was 'her' street, and taken my book and my order!!!!!!!!!!!!! (The customer was one that ticked my 'I would like the next brochure' box when I delivered the previous campaign book!!!!!)

In another street (which were on C4) I again had to knock on several doors (none of whom were in ... so lots of brochures lost!). One who did answer the door handed me a C5 book! I took it (knowing full well that it must belong to the other rep, as I had dropped C4s), and when I looked at the order form, it was from the other rep!!

I phoned my ASM to double check my road allocations, and she confirmed that both houses were not included in this other rep's F&F and that the roads were never allocated to her. So she is canvassing my allocation roads and stealing orders!!

My ASM just isn't interested in resolving this. I phoned Avon and spoke to someone in their complaints department, but all she could do was offer me sympathy and suggest that I speak to my customers and basically plead them to stay with me!!!! I asked if this other rep could behave like this with no recourse, and she said that territory was an ASM matter. I asked if I could complain about this other rep, and she fobbed me off.

It might not sound like a big deal, but I wanted to let others know my story. If you do have problems with road allocations and other reps, then there is nothing Avon will do about it.

I feel really annoyed about this, not to mention bullied. I can't believe she's taken it upon herself to canvass roads that the ASM told her last week were allocated to me, plus gone around and stolen at least one order and book (and I suspect more, as 2 other books are missing from that street!).

The joke is that when I was collecting my books in a 3rd road, one home had ticked the 'please don't leave any more brochures' box and explained that they themselves were a rep. That's 3 reps in a 200m radius!!! I knocked on her door and found out that she's also under my ASM, has been given a road quite a way away and is also having problems with another local rep. It's obvious she hasn't canvassed her own road as I have 3 orders from that road, and one from a woman who is over the moon to have an Avon Rep again after her last one let her down (her words not mine).

I know that many, many reps are wonderful people, but please be cautious if you have having problems with road allocations. Don't touch those roads with a barge pole and ask for different territory.

Avon doesn't seem to give a s**t about its reps, good or bad.

So ... over and out! Thanks everyone for all the advice.

Bex
x

piglet25

Thats really crappy! I think I would resign aswell to be honest because if no-one is going to sort it out for you it doesn't give you any incentive to carry on. The residents of those streets must be sick of getting books from different people too. So can anyone tell me what exactly Avon does to prevent reps from just helping themselves to streets? Because if theres no comeback on the reps that do this then its pointless handing out streets to begin with, they might aswell just tell you to pick where ever you like!

MarsdenCuckoo

Really sorry, Bex, and know you must be really angry but...... before you resign - just a few thoughts:

My territory was recently given away by my ASM in error to another rep. I put calls in to my ASM but the longer I waited, the more angry I got so I picked up the phone myself to the other rep. She was new and it was obviously an error on the part of our ASM (the newbie's a long established SL so was given loads of territory and mine was just thrown in for good measure). Luckily, we were both professional and sorted out between us where I had customers and where I/she would stay away from.

Am wondering if something similar is going on with your area too? Have you tried picking up the phone to the other rep? Worth trying - be professional and explain it was given to you officially and just see what she says. If you're not enjoying Avon then certainly just walk away but if not, it must be worth at least one attempt to resolve - yes/no?

On another occasion I also had another rep pick up one of my books with an order in it. (I was getting pretty het up about that one too....) As it turned out though it was picked up by accident (the other rep had her daughter helping her collect so she just picked up any/all Avon books she came across). It wasn't until the next day when the rep was inputting her orders that she realised what had happened and she rang me.

If you don't fancy ringing the other rep, what about penning some sort of note and putting it through your customers' doors i.e. confirming you are the official rep on that street? Chances are your customers won't want to get involved either but it may help.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

lozza1985

Unfortunately my mil had similar troubles when she started she lives in a village and this rep had assumed that because they used to be her roads (she left then restarted apparently) she just carried on doing the same roads....got mil territory in another village....pc rep there thinks the whole of the village is her territory!!!!! So mil has territory in another village now which has been fine. Me & oh have never had a problem with our territories,the majority of reps like and respect the fact that they are given strets which will be there's. Unfortunately there's always the odd one that spoils it for the rest and annoyingly Avon won't do anything about it other than ask the rep to stick to their own streets as they are only bothered about sales. Sorry to hear you're leaving but don't blame you! Thankfully it isn't too common but it shouldn't happen at all.

MarsdenCuckoo

I've got a query now please, which hopefully someone can advise on before 8pm tonight (no pressure there then! )

If someone signs up then resigns within 14 days of signing the form, can they sign up again two campaigns later?

lozza1985

MarsdenCuckoo wrote: »

I've got a query now please, which hopefully someone can advise on before 8pm tonight (no pressure there then! )

If someone signs up then resigns within 14 days of signing the form, can they sign up again two campaigns later?

Yes - have they officially resigned via avon, or have they just not submitted an order? If they have officially resigned then they will need to complete a new contract, or at least thats my understanding of it as the contract will have been made null and void, if its just a case of "dropping off the system" from not submitting an order, then there account will more still be active so they can just get going again with needing to complete a new form.

MarsdenCuckoo

lozza1985 wrote: »

Yes - have they officially resigned via avon, or have they just not submitted an order? If they have officially resigned then they will need to complete a new contract, or at least thats my understanding of it as the contract will have been made null and void, if its just a case of "dropping off the system" from not submitting an order, then there account will more still be active so they can just get going again with needing to complete a new form.

Thanks for your quick reply, lozza. Will PM you but in essence, someone signed up last week hasn't yet put in an order but is now wondering whether to cancel now and sign up again in a couple of weeks. Just wondering if a) it's possible/acceptable (or its there a time restraint on applying/resigning/re-applying and b) if they do resign now will it have an adverse affect on their next application?

Thanks again.

bexr

MarsdenCuckoo wrote: »

Really sorry, Bex, and know you must be really angry but...... before you resign - just a few thoughts:

My territory was recently given away by my ASM in error to another rep. I put calls in to my ASM but the longer I waited, the more angry I got so I picked up the phone myself to the other rep. She was new and it was obviously an error on the part of our ASM (the newbie's a long established SL so was given loads of territory and mine was just thrown in for good measure). Luckily, we were both professional and sorted out between us where I had customers and where I/she would stay away from.

Am wondering if something similar is going on with your area too? Have you tried picking up the phone to the other rep? Worth trying - be professional and explain it was given to you officially and just see what she says. If you're not enjoying Avon then certainly just walk away but if not, it must be worth at least one attempt to resolve - yes/no?

On another occasion I also had another rep pick up one of my books with an order in it. (I was getting pretty het up about that one too....) As it turned out though it was picked up by accident (the other rep had her daughter helping her collect so she just picked up any/all Avon books she came across). It wasn't until the next day when the rep was inputting her orders that she realised what had happened and she rang me.

If you don't fancy ringing the other rep, what about penning some sort of note and putting it through your customers' doors i.e. confirming you are the official rep on that street? Chances are your customers won't want to get involved either but it may help.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

Thanks for all the advice! :T
Nah, she definitely didn't pick itt up by accident. The street where she's 'stolen' at least one order and my book is one that has been a problem from the start. The rep admitted that she cold-canvassed that road a long time ago and the residents confirmed she hasn't been back before Christmas, and didn't deliver their last orders! My ASM told her that she was allowed to keep her customers but not canvass the rest of the road, as it was allocated to me. She's been told this numerous times in the past few weeks, once by email which was cc-ed to me.

I think the situation has developed further, as unbeknownst to me, the rep actually lives in one of the roads I picked up books from today! I've just been told this by my ASM! After checking my calling book, funnily enough she left the brochure I delivered (but not any of the stolen ones that the customer said she'd return to me!), but it is her immediate neighbours that didn't leave their brochures out - all 6 of them! Funny that I delivered C4 on Monday, and that she's obviously delivered C5 after that!

It's obvious to me that she's been a lazy a-hole in the past, and now she knows there's someone new, she's doing everything she can to claw back her customers or gain new ones, whatever that takes. I do feel like she's bullying me out. I haven't got the time or inclination to be fighting over customers to make £50 a month!

She has been told what streets are allocated to me. My ASM swears that the 2 streets in question (one that she's canvassed and the other that she's stolen an order and bok from) have never been allocated to her, and neither is she claiming they were to my ASM!

I do know of a young girl who has just started locally, and I will definitely hand over my existing customers to her. I'll speak to her before I deliver the next order, then tell my existing customers why I'm quitting and that she'll (hopefully) take over from me. There's no way that I'm going to give my customers away to that nasty other rep!

Thanks for listening everyone!

Bex
x

lozza1985

MarsdenCuckoo wrote: »

Thanks for your quick reply, lozza. Will PM you but in essence, someone signed up last week hasn't yet put in an order but is now wondering whether to cancel now and sign up again in a couple of weeks. Just wondering if a) it's possible/acceptable (or its there a time restraint on applying/resigning/re-applying and b) if they do resign now will it have an adverse affect on their next application?

Thanks again.

Sorry but I'm on my phone so can't get my pm's. I have no idea if it would affect their next application sorry but I can't see them being refused just potentially their credit limit MAY be lower but that's just a guess. It would be easier if they didn't cancel as you have 3 campaigns before they'll drop off the system however they wouldn't qualify for all of the smart start scheme as they would have missed their first few orders. The rep would need to contact Avon themselves to get their account closed. Sorry I can't be more help but never had this problem before.

sophisoph

MarsdenCuckoo wrote: »

Thanks for your quick reply, lozza. Will PM you but in essence, someone signed up last week hasn't yet put in an order but is now wondering whether to cancel now and sign up again in a couple of weeks. Just wondering if a) it's possible/acceptable (or its there a time restraint on applying/resigning/re-applying and b) if they do resign now will it have an adverse affect on their next application?

Thanks again.

can i ask why she wants to leave for a few weeks? If its the case of she has been signed up under someone but wants to be in your team then (according to my am) she will have to leave it 8 campaigns IF she just didnt place an order. (Not sure about if she officially resigned within 14 days)

If she didnt order and signs up again within 8 camps she is automatically signed up to the SL that signed her originally. Hope that makes sense. just a heads up x